


While others search for what they can take, a true king searches for what he can give

by silvermoongirl10



Series: Exists in a delicate balance [10]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 212th Attack Battalion loves their General, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Obi-Wan looks after his men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27284611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvermoongirl10/pseuds/silvermoongirl10
Summary: Some men of the 212th reflect on what their General has done for them and how much they appreciate how much he cares about them.(Set during the Clone Wars.)
Relationships: 212th Attack Battalion & Obi-Wan Kenobi, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: Exists in a delicate balance [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978357
Comments: 9
Kudos: 331





	While others search for what they can take, a true king searches for what he can give

**Author's Note:**

> This features clones that are named in the series, but also includes my medic OC Patch, as I discovered the 212th doesn't actually have a named medic.

**Waxer and Boil**

Waxer had been sat in the mess; he had vented at Boil over the state of the orphans they had encountered on their last campaign. He could clearly recall the haunted eyes of the children; they were too young in his eyes to suddenly become aware of what war was. But it was out of his control and now those children would forever be haunted by the sight of watching as their parents were killed by droids. What he also couldn't forget, was seeing the small bodies shiver from the slight chill. They had no personal belongings, all destroyed by the Separatists. When Boil pointed out that there was nothing they could do, Waxer internally seethed. He knew his brother was right, but he didn't want to accept it.

So, he went to the General and confessed that he wanted to actually do something that wasn't fighting. The General had smiled and suggested making blankets, something Waxer would be able to hand out to children he encountered on future campaigns. Waxer leapt at the opportunity and wasn't surprised when Boil offered to help him.

General Kenobi got hold of fabric for them, how he did it, Waxer wasn't sure, but he enjoyed looking at all the different fabrics and their patterns. All the clones could sew, they needed to, to be able to mend their blacks. So, in a small storage room that General Kenobi had reassigned as the fabric room. Waxer and Boil would sit in their free time and create patchwork blankets. The General got hold of spare crates for them to place the finished blankets in.

During their next campaign, Waxer and Boil gleefully handed out the blankets they had made. Seeing the smiles on the children's faces lifted Waxer up like nothing else, and he noted how happy Boil seemed to be as well. Across the village square he caught sight of General Kenobi watching them with a smile. Waxer was grateful to his General, he knew he had gone to the General with an unusual request, but the Jedi had found a way for Waxer to feel like he was helping and to bring a smile to Boil's face. For that, Waxer would always be grateful to his General for.

**Longshot**

Longshot sighed, the 212th had landed on a planet he couldn't recall the name of to gather supplies. Just for their pleasant supply run to be interrupted by General Grievous and his forces. Longshot placed himself in front of one of the gunships that was loaded with supplies. He fired at any droids that got too close, trying to give the pilot breathing room to take off back to the Negotiator.

Just as the gunship lifted into the air. From the corner of his eye, Longshot noticed someone, or something, was charging towards him. He turned his head and was met with the looming presence of General Grievous. He hastily fired his blaster, but it had no effect on the cyborg. The air was knocked out of his lungs as he was thrown to the hard earth by one of Grievous's metal legs. Longshot desperately tried to grasp his blaster that had slipped from his hand, it was lying centimetres out of his reach. He clawed at the ground trying to reach his blaster as the metal foot began enclosing around his neck. He spluttered and gasped for air, his vision greying around the edges as he was unable to draw enough breath into his lungs.

He heard a loud humming noise and saw a flash of blue. Before the pressure around his neck was suddenly gone. He sucked in a sharp breath and removed his helmet as he desperately gasped in air. He looked up and watched as General Kenobi fought Grievous in a swirling storm of leaps and flashes of his lightsaber, pushing the cyborg away from Longshot.

Longshot jumped when someone dropped down heavily beside him, he turned slightly and was met with the sight of Commander Cody's helmet, as his Commander inspected his neck. "You need to slow your breathing down Longshot," commanded Cody.

"T-t-trying…s-s-sir," he gasped. Longshot knew he needed to calm his breathing, but remembering the feeling of not being able to, led to him continuing to take gasping breaths.

When he next looked up, he watched as General Kenobi got up from the floor, no Grievous in sight. The General hastily walked over to him. "Are you alright Longshot?" he asked.

Longshot just nodded, still taking too many quick breaths. He looked up and saw the concerned look in the General's blue eyes. A gentle hand was placed on his forehead and a soft command accompanied it. "Sleep Longshot."

Suddenly, Longshot felt his eyes begin to droop and as his eyes slipped closed, he saw General Kenobi catch his slumping form. Longshot drifted into a peaceful sleep with the comforting arms of his General holding him up.

**Gearshift**

Gearshift looked around the mess on the Negotiator morosely. Morale was low. Too many brothers had been lost on the last campaign and so life on the Negotiator wasn't what it usually was. There were no smiles, no laughter, no jokes. Nothing but empty silences.

The only thing that seemed to ease the grief of the ship, was the men listening to the stories General Kenobi told of his time as an Initiate, as he and his friends pulled practical jokes on other beings at the Temple. Gearshift observed the smiles on the faces of their brothers as they listened. That particular day, Gearshift was sharing a table with his squad and the General. He wasn't sure what it was, but he realised that perhaps a few pranks on the ship would breathe life back into his brothers. He also wasn't sure how the General knew what he was thinking, but the General told a story of how he and his friends dropped paint onto General Windu, with a pointed look at Gearshift. He felt a smirk begin to form on his face, without saying anything, he knew he had just gotten blatant permission from General Kenobi to drop paint onto someone. He nodded once to the General and in return the blue eyes of the General sparkled in amusement.

So, during his free time in the afternoon, Gearshift smuggled some 212th orange and yellow paint from one of the store rooms. He then pondered who his victim would be. It needed to be public, it needed to be where many of his brothers would see. So, he decided on placing the bucket of paint above one of the store rooms in the main training room. Which meant he didn't have to target a particular person; the victim would be whoever opened the store room.

The next day, Commander Cody was leading a training session in the main training room. It was unfortunate for the Commander that he didn't delegate his task to someone else. Cody walked towards the store room and Gearshift waited with bated breath. The door opened and the bucket of paint tipped onto Cody, covering his head and blacks in 212th orange and yellow paint. The room went silent. Then muttered laughter broke out, Cody was unable to stop it with his sharp glare like he usually could. The effect of his glare was somewhat ruined by the drips of paint standing out against his dark skin as it slipped down his unimpressed face.

Over the next few days more pranks happened, although Gearshift had nothing to do with them. He just watched with a smile on his face as laughter could once again be heard throughout the Negotiator.

Salt replaced sugar. Toothpaste was replaced by soap. Shampoo had hair dye mixed into it. Helmets were re-painted.

Throughout it all, Gearshift noticed General Kenobi stood in the background smiling and laughing at the chaos that was his flagship.

Somehow, Commander Cody worked out that Gearshift was responsible for tipping the paint over him at the training session. Gearshift took the telling off silently, trying to contain his smile as he didn't have his helmet to hide beneath. Any punishment was worth seeing his brothers smile and laugh again. He met General Kenobi's gaze over Cody's shoulder and returned the smile the General directed at him. Cody followed his gaze and then rolled his eyes at the General.

"Did you have to encourage this ship wide prank war?" exclaimed Cody.

"Why Commander, I have no idea what you mean," responded Kenobi blankly, his blue eyes wide in innocence.

Cody shook his head. "Oh, don't give me that 'I'm an innocent Jedi' look. I _know_ you did something!"

As the Commander and General walked down the corridors of the Negotiator arguing over whether Kenobi had anything to do with the prank war. Gearshift smiled, somehow, he knew General Kenobi would happily take any rant from Cody gladly, just to see his men happy again.

**Trapper**

After the disaster landing that was Point Rain and the end of the campaign on Geonosis, Trapper had found himself a quiet corner on the Negotiator and just sat, curled up, in silence. As he removed his helmet, he swore he could still hear the groaning of the gunship as it crashed, the small explosion of the nose of the gunship as it hit the ground and the cut off screams of his brothers as they died.

He had heard other brothers say how lucky he was to be the only brother to survive the crash. However, Trapper didn't feel lucky. What was so lucky being the only clone to walk away from a crash that killed all of his brothers? He wasn't surprised that General Kenobi survived, the man was a Jedi, and as Trapper learnt over the past few months, his General was very hard to kill. What was so special about Trapper? Nothing. So why did he get to walk away with the General when his brothers did not?

As Trapper's thoughts continued to spiral, he jumped when a gentle hand came to rest on his armour-clad shoulder. He slowly lifted his head up and met the concerned gaze of his General. Trapper straightened up and tried to stand but was gently pushed back to sitting down. "General!"

"At ease Trapper," commented the General softly. Trapper was shocked when the Jedi lowered himself to the floor beside him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine sir!" he responded instantly. Fearful that if he admitted that he didn't feel okay that he would be punished or even decommissioned.

General Kenobi raised one of his eyebrows and softly said, "Trapper, you can admit how you are truthfully feeling to me. Nothing bad will happen to you. I _promise_."

It was as if a dam had broken, Trapper instantly felt his eyes begin to fill with tears. "I am questioning why I was the only one of my brothers to walk away," he admitted, his gaze trained on the floor.

He was shocked when two arms encircled him and found himself being hugged by his General. He wanted to push away, knowing that he should, but the brown outer robe was very soft and he felt cared about. So, he relaxed into the hug and hesitantly gripped the brown robe between his fingers.

"I am afraid I cannot answer that question Trapper. No matter how much I would like to, I have even asked myself the same question before," sighed General Kenobi. "But you and I are both still here. And I know your brothers would not want you to feel guilty about surviving."

"I know," Trapper whispered. "But it still feels wrong."

"It will for some time I am afraid," confessed the General gently. "But eventually you will find the pain eases away."

Trapper was then gently pulled to his feet, and he let himself be guided by the General down the corridors of the Negotiator until they reached the Med bay. Trapper turned to look at his General in question, not understanding why he was being taken to the Med bay. Kenobi smiled, "Patch wanted to check the progress on your injuries," the Jedi paused in thought and then asked. "Were any of your batchmates assigned to different squads?"

Trapper nodded, "yes sir. Blaster is in Sergeant Axel's squad sir."

Kenobi nodded in response and then gently pushed Trapper into Lead Medic Patch's care. Trapper wasn't sure how much time had passed, but when the doors to Med bay swished open, he looked up and met the worried face of his batchmate Blaster. For the first time in a long time, Trapper found himself able to smile, knowing that the General had sent Blaster to Med bay to check on Trapper. He wondered if all Jedi Generals were like Kenobi, or if the 212th's General was just that extra special.

**Patch**

Patch finished placing a bacta patch on General Kenobi's lower arm, the General had been caught by Grievous's lightsaber, but was lucky he only got a slight burn just above his wrist. As Patch smoothed the patch down, he cast his gaze across the Med bay and sighed seeing so many of his brothers lying wounded on the medical beds. He jumped when a hand squeezed his shoulder and he looked up to meet the General's blue eyes. "Go take a rest Patch," ordered the General.

Patch wanted to, he really did, but there was so much to _do_. The bacta bandages on Blaster's leg needed to be checked and possibly changed, Slim's vitals needed to be checked while he was in the bacta tank, Slim's batchmate Foodie needed to be convinced to step away from his vigil of watching Slim and get some actual sleep and there were too many other brothers to check on.

The hand on his shoulder squeezed a little tighter, but it didn't hurt. "Patch. Get some rest. I will remain here and watch over the Med bay. I am sure the other medics will be able to check on the men before they get some rest. You've sent them all to rest, now it is your turn," commented the General firmly.

"I know I need to rest sir," murmured Patch. "But I can't leave them."

Kenobi looked at him softly, then nodded to himself. Patch watched from his position of sitting on a stool, as Kenobi got to his feet and pulled his robe off of the medical bed he had been sat on, but instead of putting his robe on, he draped it over one arm. He then gently tugged Patch to his feet and then pushed Patch onto the medical bed. Patch lay still in shock as his General shook out his robe and tucked it over and around Patch. "Sir?" he asked in confusion.

"I understand your reluctance to leave the men," said Kenobi as he sat on the edge of the bed. "So, instead you can rest here. If we need you, we will wake you. But for now, _rest_."

Patch nodded, already feeling his eyes drift closed from exhaustion. As he slipped into a dreamless sleep, he felt a hand rest on his knee comfortingly. He was worried that his sleep would be interrupted by nightmares, of the sights and sounds as his brothers died around him. However, he felt a calm presence surround him, leading him to guess his General was using the Force to keep his nightmares at bay. Patch smiled to himself, the 212th was very lucky with their General. He knew many other Generals cared about their men, but General Kenobi seemed to place his men above himself. Something that usually drove both Patch and Commander Cody to distraction. However, in instances like this where the General wasn't putting himself in harms way. Patch could really appreciate all that General Kenobi did for the men and how much he genuinely cared about them all.

**Wooley**

As Wooley stood beside one of the noses of the gunships, he smiled to himself as he carefully painted the 212th's General Kenobi, stood with his lightsaber raised. He had been wandering around the Negotiator aimlessly, feeling restless and not sure how he could stop his energy humming away.

On his second lap of the Negotiator, he had been brought to a stop by General Kenobi who was stood in the middle of the corridor, two pots of paint at his feet. "General?" asked Wooley in confusion, thinking if the General needed help, he would be more than happy to help. It would help him stop feeling restless and added bonus he would be able to do something for his General.

"Anakin pointed out that some of our gunships are looking boring in comparison to the 501st gunships," commented Kenobi. He pushed the pots of paints towards Wooley with his foot, and then with a smile he turned and walked towards the bridge. Wooley grinned as he picked up the paint and made his way towards the hanger where he spotted three new gunships that had no paint on them.

Wooley hummed a tune to himself as he finished painting the General's boot and then below the feet of the painted General. In big, 212th orange he began painting the words 'our General is better than yours'. As he stepped back to admire his handy work, Wooley smiled in satisfaction and _finally_ began to feel himself relax.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, Wooley turned and found General Kenobi and Commander Cody stood looking at his nose work. The Commander had his helmet tucked under one arm, so Wooley was able to observe the Commander's smile. The General's face turned slightly red as he blushed at the words beneath his portrait on the gunship.

"Uh…good work Wooley," commented the General. Wooley bit his lips to hide his smirk at seeing his General seemingly lost for words.

"Thank you General," grinned Wooley. The General mumbled something and with a nod at Wooley, Kenobi walked out of the hanger leaving Wooley and Cody stood beside the gunship.

Cody stepped closer and looked the portrait up and down, he then turned to Wooley and smiled. "Good work Wooley. Carry on Trooper," with that the Commander turned and followed the General out of the hanger.

"Sir yes sir!" responded Wooley enthusiastically. He turned back to the two remaining gunships and pondered what he should paint on their noses.


End file.
